An Unexpected Life
by FallenLeaves25
Summary: Somewhere in the North Blue, a child was born. A child that remembered living in a world where Marines and pirates and Devil Fruits were interesting plot devices in a popular manga. Now she finds herself in a new world, with a new name, playing by new rules. And maybe this all would have turned out fine if only she hadn't run into a young Trafalgar Law. Eventual LawxOC. Slow build.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

It was dark, wherever she was. Dark, yet warm and comforting. Placidly she lay in the darkness, finding a strange comfort in her inability to move or see. Perhaps at one point in time she had found herself panicking at the thought of being so complacent with the fact that she was completely and utterly helpless. Perhaps at one point in time she had felt a fierce rage at being so constricted. But all she felt now was a soul-deep weariness, an ever-pervasive ache that sent roots down into the essence of her being.

She was so very tired.

She had been in this darkness for what felt like an eternity. Perhaps it had been. When she had thought of the afterlife (when she allowed for the possibility that there might be one), she had never imagined this warm, soothing, all-encompassing blackness that seemed both endless and confined. This had neither the feeling of the beneficence of Heaven nor the damning punishment of Hell. Instead, she found herself letting go of all her fear, her panic, her anger…

She knew she was dead. She remembered it. Or at least, she had at first. The sting of death had been sharp and cutting when she had first found herself in the darkness. Now, she felt like a stone that sat at the bottom of a riverbed. All of her sharp edges and rough outer layers were being washed away, bit by bit, until all that was left was smooth lines and the strong core of her inner self. She found some details in her mind blurring, washed away by the soothing, unending darkness. She could no longer recall the image of her childhood home or her first day at school. And yet there was no fear that she was losing herself or that anything important was being taken away. She still remembered the reassuring sound of her mother's laugh, the confidence of successfully completing a project, the joy of running through the fresh air. But everything was… muted. Faded. The sting had been taken out of her loss and all that remained was the vague reminiscence of what had been.

But the process had tired her, this slow grinding away of her sharp edge of loss and the rough wearing of life. And now that all her anger and fear had been worn away, she found herself without much left to grasp on to. There wasn't much there, in the darkness. And she yearned for something more, something new.

A little while after that, she found herself regretting that sentiment.

Gradually, slowly, the darkness wasn't as comforting anymore. There was tightness and pain. _Out!_ It seemed to say. _Out you go now! You're not staying here!_ And suddenly she became aware that yes, she did still have a physical body, and yes, things could still hurt.

And then there was light. Bright, blinding light that was accompanied by a rush of other sensations that she had been so long deprived of in the darkness. Her sensitivity made her cry out in pain as she coughed out the blockages in her airways and inhaled sharp, cold air. Her head ached at both the sound of her own cries and the influx of other, deeper noises that seemed to surround her. Abruptly she found herself lifted up into the air, cradled between large, warm hands and brought to an equally warm body that was covered in rough material that scratched painfully against her sensitive skin. She leaned backwards and peered up into the indistinct face that was looming over her, murmuring deeply to her in words that she felt were vaguely familiar, but was too panicked to recognize. It had begun to dawn on her.

Somehow, someway, she had been reborn as a baby. And she _remembered._ Something was very, very wrong here.


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

Far away on an indeterminate island in the North Blue, alone in the middle of the woods, a young girl was skipping rocks across a small mountain lake. Like many small children she was somewhat scraggly in appearance, with grass stains and dirt on her clothing and mud between her bare toes. Her hair, bright golden like the sun winking down at her from between the branches of the trees, was long and thick and framed her small, pale face that was dotted with freckles.

One would assume any other child had been playing in the woods, off on adventures to save the world or find lost treasure. One would assume any other child would eventually tire of skipping rocks and run back home to their parents before darkness fell. One would assume any other child was, well, normal. But not this child. One had only to look into her steel blue-grey eyes to realize that this child was anything but normal. When the townspeople looked into her eyes, they did not see the eyes of a child. These were eyes that had seen things, knew things. Some of the more loose-lipped residents had commented that she had the eyes of an "old soul," which she had always found slightly amusing.

Her name was Koizumi Miyu and she had just recently become an orphan at the age of six years old. _And_ , she thought as she savagely chucked a rock into the clear mountain lake, _this isn't the first time I have been six either._ _It is decidedly less enjoyable the second time around though._

It had been quite the surprise for Miyu to come out of the darkness she had previously thought to be the afterlife and find herself reborn. Actually, surprise would be understating it. She had never thought to be having an existential crisis after dying and she hadn't enjoyed it in the slightest. For those first few months, when her mobility was severely limited and she was valiantly trying to ignore and/or cope with the indignity of being an infant, she had often wondered at what kind of cosmic forces would result in her being here. She had considered quite a few possibilities. There's not much else to do when you're a squalling infant- emphasis on the squalling, much to her embarrassment. Damn baby biology.

Perhaps she was a reincarnated soul and the Buddhists had it right. But then, you'd think there would be more people running around with memories of their past lives (and deaths…). And she had seen no evidence of that so far. Besides, weren't most people supposed to reincarnated as something ridiculous, like a squirrel? She'd come up with some pretty crazy theories while she was attempting to ignore the mortification of diaper changes and post-feeding spit ups, but each seemed crazier and more improbable than the last. Miyu finally decided that, despite having died and been literally reborn, she was no closer to figuring out the mysteries of life and the universe than she ever had been before and that she might as well get on with her life and concern herself with things that were more important. Things like relearning fine motor skills and the ability to use the toilet. If she was going to have a rash, she'd rather it be her own damn fault, thank you very much, and not because someone had either forgotten or was too busy to change her.

It was strange, learning to live life all over again. Even though some of her more personal memories had faded, such as her name and the faces of her family, she found that she had retained a lot of her memories and knowledge. In many ways she still felt like the adult she had died as, and having her new parents taking care of her basic needs, like feeding and personal hygiene, was appreciated but immensely frustrating.

 _Well, when they actually took care of them,_ she thought with a frown as she sent another stone skipping across the lake in a vicious arc. Her childhood in this life was markedly different than in her last one. Beyond the whole "remembering an entire past life" thing she had going on. From what she could recall, in her last life her childhood had been mainly happy. Sure her parents ended up splitting up and eventually remarrying, but they cared about both her and her siblings and her childhood had been filled with laughter and love.

That was definitely not the case the second time around. Miyu could feel her fingers tightening almost painfully on the sharp edges of the stone she held in her grip as she thought about all the hours spent alone in that decrepit house she had grown up in. Hours spent staring up at the water damaged ceiling from her crib before she was finally old enough to move around on her own. Endless hours with nothing to distract her from her hunger or chafing skin besides vague memories of a past life and knowledge that she had no context for that didn't help her situation in the slightest. What good was it to know how to solve differential calculus or knit together a queen-sized blanket when she wasn't even physically capable of getting herself out of the thrice damned crib? Many times Miyu had found herself so overcome with frustration that her younger body couldn't handle it and she found herself screaming and crying until she had exhausted herself into slumber. And because of the fact that her mind was that of an adult, she didn't have the luxury of forgetting all of her earliest memories like most infants would. No, she remembered it all.

As she grew older she began to understand more and more about her situation. Her parents weren't anyone particularly important or special. He was a dock worker; she was a waitress at one of the local diners. The town they lived in, Linedown, wasn't small enough that everyone knew each other, but neither was it a sprawling metropolis either. It was located on an island in a sea called the North Blue, as far as she was able to pick up from her father's talk from the docks. Her parents spent their days at work and their nights out at the numerous bars that were scattered around the port town. By the time Miyu was four she was fairly self-sufficient, preparing her own meals and doing her own laundry, along with many other things. Her parents would come home late after a night out drinking and Miyu would make sure to be out of the house before her parents awoke to drag themselves to work hungover and start the cycle all over again. Sometimes she didn't even see them when the weekend came around, and only knew that they hadn't up and left because on Monday morning there would be a mess in the bathroom and a scant amount of groceries in the fridge that she had to stretch the entire week. Miyu got the impression that her parents had neither wanted to nor meant to have children, and she could only thank the random quirk of the universe that had made her their child rather than a normal baby that would have actually needed the love and attention that her parents were seemingly incapable of giving.

At times she was almost grateful for that inattention, because if they had been a normal pair of parents they definitely would have noticed how odd their only child was. The way she seemed to know things without being taught, the way she was able to organize and get things done without having any prior experience. But they didn't, and so Miyu was able to skate along in obscurity, teaching herself to read and write and generally take care of herself in this new life. She spent a lot of her time outside, relearning how to run and jump and climb. At Linedown's borders lay an extensive forest that most of the other townspeople seemed to ignore in favor or the comfort, warmth, and accessibility of Linedown's ports and trade. While Miyu knew that in her current state she would be unable to defend herself if she went too far into the woods and got in trouble, she still spent a significant amount of time on the edges of the forest exploring the plant and animal life that was similar but still different from what she remembered from her past life. Over time her hands and feet became strong and calloused from all the time spent running barefoot over the forest floor and clambering up and down the tree line in search of new and interesting things to discover.

And so her second life had steadily continued on and Miyu had been content. Maybe not happy, or loved, but content. Even if sometimes she felt like she lived with a couple of strangers rather than her second set of parents. Until the day that her father and mother came home from the bar a little more drunk than usual and both passed away in their sleep from what Miyu could only assume was alcohol poisoning. In hindsight it seemed obviously, now that she thought about it. It was almost inevitable that having drinking so entwined in their lives would eventually lead to Miyu standing in the doorway of her parents' bedroom, looking at the two blue, still forms that lay in their bed and realizing that now she truly was all alone in the world.

 _It's odd,_ Miyu thought as she stared blankly where the wind gently pushed the lapping waves against the beach. She sat down with a thump, legs sprawled in front of her, finally having exhausted her supply of available rocks and just now realizing how tired she was. _It's so odd that a couple of people that wanted so little to do with my life have suddenly turned it upside down._ Miyu felt guilty, in an abstract sort of way, that she wasn't more upset about the fact that the two people who gave her this new life were gone. But it was hard to miss someone that you had never really known. At times she felt she lived with a couple of delinquent roommates rather than parents. Roommates that she had spent significant time and effort purposefully distancing herself from. Because as much as she tried not to, Miyu couldn't help but feel a muted resentment towards the people who had made her early days so miserable and lonely. When she had been forced to live with people who found their partying and drinking more important than paying attention to their child. Even if she still thought of herself as an adult, and not a child, it still stung when her existence was overlooked so callously.

So when Miyu thought of her parents' deaths she didn't feel any grief, but rather a burning lump of frustration that sat low in her throat and made her immature child's body want to weep. Because they had died too damn soon and now, six years into her second existence, Miyu found herself having caught the attention of a town that had previously ignored her existence and suddenly thought itself responsible for her welfare. And sooner or later someone would notice that she wasn't, well, normal. That they would look beyond the idea that she was an "old soul" and realize that there was something truly different about her. And she recalled clearly how society dealt with people they saw as different.

They were trying to settle her in a new home with foster parents. Or this city's version of foster parents. When it came to things like infrastructure, this new life differed slightly from what she knew in her past life. Ever since she had found her parents' dead in their bed last Tuesday afternoon, she had been bombarded by city officials that kept insisting, _"Don't worry dear, we know what's best,"_ and _"Listen to what your elders tell you and it'll all be alright."_ It was very clear to Miyu that they thought her a simple, helpless child and that they desperately didn't want her to be their problem. They had already moved her from her parents' house into the local orphanage and less than a week in the place had convinced Miyu that she would rather jump off a cliff than live the rest of her second childhood in that stinking rats' nest. The social worker, or whatever she was called, had dropped by today to tell her that she was close to being placed with a family. The longer the worker had talked about the family she was supposed to live with, the more frightened and angry Miyu had become. In the end she hadn't been able to stand being in the orphanage for even a minute more, and as soon as she managed to sneak out the door without having any of the caretakers spot her she had taken off at a run for the woods and hadn't stopped running until she couldn't breathe.

And so Miyu found herself at this obscure lake, high in the mountains of her island, away from Linedown and all of its associated stupidity and frustration, trying to figure out what she was going to do with her life now. Although she was exhausted, both from her mad dash up the mountain and her rage-fueled rock skipping session, and she could feel her stomach cramping with hunger, she found herself reluctant to head back down the mountain just yet.

She was surprised that she had managed to find this lake in the first place. It was obviously off the beaten path, and looked to have received little to no human traffic as far as she could tell. The small lake was cradled in between two mountain peaks and surrounded closely by towering pines. It was fairly small, but it wouldn't take her more than an hour or two to walk around the perimeter. To her right was a series of rock outcroppings that reached out over the lake like a natural-made diving board. The water was crystal clear in that way that only mountain lakes fed by runoff can manage and down in its depths she could see fish flitting between the rocks and moss.

Miyu let out a sigh and tilted her head back to look at the rapidly descending sun. Her life would be so much easier if her parents had just had the decency to wait a little longer to drink themselves to death. If only she were a few years older, she would be able to get a job and support herself. It wouldn't have been fun, or pretty, but she could have done it. She could have kept that rotten house that she detested and supported herself until she had the means to move out and make something of her life. But at six years old, that plan of action was nearly impossible, no matter how mature she was mentally. There was no way she could get a job, or at least one that doesn't involve illegal and rather unsavory activities, and no way she could continue living in her parents' house. As much as she hated to admit it, the foster family was looking like her best option at the moment.

With another sigh she heaved herself to her feet and finally acknowledged the gnawing hunger in her stomach. She scanned the tree line in the hopes that she might find something to snack on during her trip back down the mountain. At last she spotted a vine at the base of one of the trees that signaled she had found what she was looking for. In her various escapades exploring the edges of the forest, she had found a fruit that grew in the undergrowth that resembled what she remembered as a strawberry, except that they grew considerably larger. Here a fruit could grow to be the size of her small, child-sized palms, and made for a very tasty snack.

Crouching at the base of the tree, Miyu noticed with some disappointment that there were only two fruits on the strawberry vine she had found. One was red like she had come to expect, although less ripe than she would have preferred, and the other one was a light green color and looked far off from being ripe. She glanced again at the sky, noting that if she didn't leave soon she would be traveling down the mountain in the dark which was never a smart idea unless you could defend yourself. She looked at her bare feet and her scrawny arms and decided that she didn't have time to search out another vine. She grabbed both of the strawberries, figuring that a green strawberry was better than no strawberry at all what with how hungry she was.

As she set off down the mountain she took her time munching on the almost-ripe strawberry, savoring her treat. As she finished it off she realized that she had gone up the mountain farther than she had thought, and that she would most probably miss dinner at the orphanage by the time she got back. She looked unhappily at the green strawberry in her hand.

"Well, you're no five star meal, but I guess you'll have to do for tonight," she grumbled to the innocent looking strawberry, and she took a large bite. And promptly almost spit it back out. She reflexively swallowed and then stopped and spit onto the ground trying to get the rotten taste out of her mouth.

 _Gods that was awful!_ She knew that it wasn't going to be tasty, what with it not being ripe quite yet and all, but she hadn't expected it to be so putrid. _Maybe there was a reason that it hadn't ripened_ , she thought with a grimace as she desperately wished for some water to wash her mouth out. She looked down at the rest of the strawberry and her face involuntarily twisted with disgust. _I'd rather starve than eat the rest of that!_

She chucked the half-eaten strawberry off into the bushes with a shudder. Served her right for trying to eat something before it was meant to be eaten. Next time, no matter how hungry she was, she was sticking with the fruit that looked ripe. No hunger pains were worth having to eat something that… that… rancid. As she continued down the mountain, having sped up her pace at the possibility of getting to rinse the ghastly taste out of her mouth, she chalked this up to another difference between this life and her past life. Apparently eating the immature fruit here was a big no-no. Just… ugh. Never. Again.

Finally she made it to the edge of the forest. The street lights were just beginning to turn on in Linedown and she hurried down the narrow streets she had memorized so that she could find the orphanage again. After managing to wiggle in through the window in the laundry room, Miyu discovered that she had indeed missed dinner. She considered sneaking into the pantry for a small snack, but changed her mind after catching a glimpse of the head caretaker's face.

 _Oh right, it's bath night_ , she thought. While bath night only came once a week in the orphanage, at least as long as she had been there, it never failed to send the head caretaker, Ms. Garthon, into a right snit. Miyu absently wondered how someone who so plainly detested children ended up as the head caretaker for the city orphanage. She then dismissed it as unimportant when Ms. Garthon spotted her bare feet tracking mud on the floors and chased her into the bathing chambers with the business end of a ruler.

It turned out that not only had she missed dinner, but also most of bath night as well, which meant that she was left with the dirty, cold water that everyone else had already washed in. Apparently water conservation was more important than children's hygiene to Ms. Garthon and all the other lovely ladies that ran the Linedown City Orphanage for Unfortunates. _Or maybe they're just lazy_ , Miyu thought to herself grumpily as she stripped off her clothes and steeled herself to get into the cold, murky looking water. With a shudder she reluctantly stuck her left foot into the tub up to her knee.

Abruptly, she found herself overcome with a wave of dizziness that sent her slumping to the floor, pulling her leg out of the bath as she went. She lay on the floor gasping for breath as she tried to understand what had just happened. Was it because she had missed dinner? Yes, she usually didn't feel great if she missed a meal, but she had never fallen to the ground before. She tentatively raised herself to her hands and knees, and then got to her feet. She stood there for a minute or two, hands held out to catch her in case she was overcome with dizziness again. Although her heart was beating loudly in her ears and her head hurt from where it had thumped into the wooden floor when she fell, she otherwise felt okay. Carefully she began to get into the tub. Thankfully she had decided to prop herself against the wall, because as soon as the water in the tub went over the top of her knee she felt herself going boneless and barely caught herself on the wall as she started to slump to the floor. She stayed propped against the wall, panting heavily as she tried to figure out what was going on.

It didn't make any sense. She was fine before she got into the water. The water wasn't even hot, so it wasn't like it was causing her to feel faint. And yet it felt like every ounce of strength had been sucked from her body. Just the prospect of trying to drag her submerged leg from the tub seemed like a herculean task. She didn't want to imagine what would have happened if she had fully gotten into the tub. She didn't know if she would be able to drag herself back out. And with how small she was and how large the tub had to be to accommodate all the different children at the orphanage, there is a very good chance that she would have drowned had she gotten in all the way.

 _Wait…_ she thought with dread. _An inability to be in standing water… That disgusting green strawberry…_ Alarm bells were going off in the back of her mind, insisting that this was something she had heard of before. Something she had read about, back in her first life. About fruits that took away a person's ability to swim…

Suddenly it dawned on her with terrible clarity. She had been reborn… into the world of One Piece. Not only that, she had just inadvertently eaten a Devil Fruit.

She was so fucked.


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Miyu sat on her bed in the corner of the crowded room she had been assigned in the Linedown City Orphanage for Unfortunates with her head between her knees and endeavored to have her meltdown as quietly as possible. Wouldn't do to freak out the rest of the children with her hysterics. Because she was definitely in hysterics at this point.

Not only had she come to the conclusion that she had apparently been reborn into the world of One Piece (which was messed up in and of itself in her opinion), but she also realized that the unpalatable green strawberry she had eaten in lieu of dinner earlier this evening had not, in fact, been a strawberry, but rather a Devil Fruit. Or maybe it was more correct to say that it _had been_ a strawberry at some point, but it was most definitely _not_ one when she had oh-so-very stupidly eaten it. A significant difference demonstrated by her disastrous attempts at taking a bath when she had returned to the orphanage this evening. In the end she had been reduced to dipping a washcloth in the cold, grimy water and washing herself off in that fashion. Every time she attempted to sit in the tub she feared that she was in very real danger of dying a second time.

But that wasn't the biggest problem. Her problem was that she had eaten a fucking _Devil Fruit_ in a world that was composed mainly of fucking _islands_. Islands which required travel by boat to reach.

 _And now she couldn't swim._

Let's not even mention the fact that a good portion of the people in this world think that Devil Fruit users are monsters. Or that she hadn't even figured out what her Devil Fruit did yet. No, Miyu was very much focused on the whole "not being able to swim" thing at the moment.

Maybe there were worse things than not being able to swim. But something about the fact that she couldn't learn to swim even if she had wanted to was seriously freaking her out. At this point her hysteria had so completely clouded her mind that she had herself half-convinced that she would be finding herself in a watery grave if she ever attempted to leave this island.

So Miyu sat in the dark with her head between her knees and attempted to direct her thoughts away from images of shipwrecks and floods and tsunamis and hurricanes and basically any other possible disaster where swimming would come in handy, and instead focused on her breathing.

In.

Out.

Hold. And then release. She imagined the waves hitting the beach that she had been sitting on that afternoon. The gentle splashing as the water came up onto the beach and then the low shushing it made as it pulled back out.

In… and out. Everything was fine. She was overreacting. She was mistaken. There was a reasonable explanation for this. One Piece wasn't real.

 _You know that isn't true,_ a tiny voice whispered in the back of her mind.

In. And out. Miyu clenched her hands tighter around her knees and sandwiched her face between her kneecaps until her temples began to ache.

 _You just don't want to admit it to yourself. You never have,_ the voice continued. _You've always had your suspicions._

"No," Miyu murmured to herself. Deny, deny, deny. This wasn't possible. One Piece was _not_ real.

 _Don't you remember?_ The voice taunted. _Don't you remember when the Pirate King died?_

Every muscle in her body tensed.

 _And mother and father came home,_ the voice mocked in a sing-song tone. _Oh, the partying they did that night…_

No. No, she didn't want to remember.

 _Any other child wouldn't have remembered. At a year old, any other child wouldn't have even realized what was going on. But you haven't ever been just any other child in this life, have you?_

Miyu could remember her parents coming staggering into the house, even more drunk than usual. They were both so intoxicated that neither of them was able to stand up straight, and when they came through the door to the room where she was standing upright in her crib they were preceded by the stench of hard liquor. Miyu remembered being so confused, because this was one of the few times they had actually come in to see her when they came home rather than immediately going into their own room and passing out.

 _"You lucky kid,"_ she remembered her father slurring as he leaned over the edge of her crib. _"It's the start of a new era, they're saying. And you were born right at the start of it, you lucky little shit. Ha! Think of the world you're going to grow up in!"_

 _"Now, honey, you know she doesn't understand a word you're saying,"_ her mother had cut in as she slouched against the bedroom wall with a cigarette in hand. She had looked over towards her mother as she took a drag. _"She's just a little kid who doesn't know nothing about anything."_ Her mother's cold eyes had been hidden behind a haze of smoke as she exhaled.

 _"Ha! She knows!"_ Her father had shouted in her face. She remembered her eyes watering from the sting of the alcohol on his breath. _"I mean, the great Pirate King, Gold Roger, has finally died! Even little kids can understand something like that."_ They had continued rambling on after that for quite a while before finally deciding to go pass out in their own room, but she hadn't paid any attention. Because as soon as her father had uttered the words "Pirate King," Miyu had fallen back into her crib and gone into a near comatose state of shock.

 _Gold Roger… the Pirate King… new era… Gold Roger has died._ The words ran through her head on a loop, over and over and over.

She couldn't have possibly heard them right. It couldn't be true. Her parents were completely smashed. They were slurring their words, nearly incoherent from drugs and alcohol. She had just filled in their words with something that sounded similar. No, she had to have heard them wrong.

At that point in her life, things hadn't been going so great for Miyu. Between the trauma of rebirth and the trials of having such neglectful parents taking care of her infant body, she was surprised that she hadn't completely lost her mind.

And so Miyu chose to forget that night had ever happened. And as the years passed, she ignored any indications that this life she was reborn into was any different than the one she had previously lived. She pretended she couldn't see the harbor filled with outdated wooden ships, that she didn't hear the townspeople in the marketplace talk about the skirmishes between pirate crews and the Marines. She stayed outside at the edge of the forest, where she could convince herself that all the unique and new plant and animal species that she found were the result of the isolated nature of the island's ecosystem.

Because denial is a powerful drug, one that she had continued to liberally abuse until the reality of her situation not only imposed itself on her world, but her very body.

And then something occurred to Miyu that had her letting out a sigh of relief and loosening her vice grip on her knees.

 _Wait; if I had eaten a Devil Fruit I would have some freaky power, right?_ She paused and tentatively waited to see if she'd start sprouting knives all over her body or turn into a dog or something. When nothing happened she relaxed even more, leaning her head back against the wall and straightening her cramped legs from their bent position.

 _Then I guess that thing in the bath really was just from missing dinner,_ she thought. Even now she could feel her stomach rumbling.

Now that she had finally calmed down, she felt the rest of her day beginning to catch up with her as her eyelids began to droop. She turned and lay down on her rickety bed, pulling her blanket up over her shoulder.

 _Everything is fine. I'll get a good night's sleep, wake up early tomorrow, make sure I'm one of the first in line for breakfast, and then get back to figuring out how to deal with that foster family. Everything's… gonna… be fine…_

And with that she drifted off to sleep. Because denial truly is a powerful drug.

* * *

 _Someone was crying. Miyu spun around in the darkness but found herself alone. She ran frantically through the blackness searching for the source of the woeful cries, but found nothing. As far as she could tell, no one else was here._

 _And yet they were still crying._

 _They cried in great, gulping sobs that made her heart ache to hear. Why wouldn't they stop crying? Or at least come out from wherever they were hiding so that she could help with whatever was wrong. No one should hurt like that. No one should cry like that alone._

 _The longer the crying went on, the stranger the whole situation became. Now, not only was the crying still echoing out through the never-ending blackness, but she found herself wanting to start crying as well. She could **feel** it. The ripping, tearing sensation in her chest like something vital had been stolen from her and she was never getting it back. She found herself clutching her chest and dropping to her knees as tears began to involuntarily roll down her cheeks._

 _Why? Why was this happening? Make it stop. Make it stop!_

 _She just wanted to go home. She was sad and scared and she wanted to go home._

 ** _What are you even talking about, Miyu? You don't have a home, remember?_**

 _Make it stop! Please, no more. Make it STOP!_

With a jolt, Miyu flew upright in her bed, hand clutching her chest and silent tears streaking her cheeks. She gulped in deep breaths of air as she tried to hold back the tears that still seemed to want to flow. She stumbled out of bed and past the still-sleeping children that occupied the other beds in the orphanage. Carefully she cracked the door open and slipped out into the chilly hallway. Maybe if she could just get a glass of water from the kitchen she'd be able to forget about that bizarre, upsetting dream.

As she crept towards the top of the stairs she realized that the light was on in the entrance hall. Quickly she crouched down and crept towards the railing, knowing that if she was caught by Ms. Garthon any chances of eating breakfast would fly right out the window. But as she peered over the railing into the entrance hall, she was hit by a wave of crushing sadness that made her want to weep uncontrollably. And strangely, she was also overcome by a strong surge of annoyance and impatience.

Standing in the entrance hall was Ms. Garthon in all her matronly glory. Although she was currently in her nightgown and slippers, she still gave the impression that nothing you did could ever measure up to her expectations, but that didn't mean that she didn't expect you to try anyways. Every time Miyu saw Ms. Garthon she simultaneously wanted to straighten her shoulders like an Army sergeant and flip her the bird, also like an Army sergeant.

Sitting on the bench next to the door a small form was huddled. Miyu leaned a little further over the railing and realized that it was a little boy, probably around four or five years old. And he was receiving quite the lecture from Ms. Garthon.

"Here now, quite down young man. There's no need to make such a production out of this," Ms. Garthon scolded. Her hands reached out like claws to snatch the young boy up from his seat on the bench. Now that he wasn't all huddled in on himself, Miyu could see that his eyes were rimmed red from crying. She was beginning to get an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

The boy mumbled something too quiet for Miyu to hear. The tears began to involuntarily well in her eyes as Miyu bit her lip to hold in her irrational sob. What in the world was wrong with her?

"Speak up, young man!" Ms. Garthon barked. "You were given a perfectly good tongue; now learn how to use it properly."

The boy began to sniffle. "I just… I just want to go home," he said. Miyu stilled and recalled her dream. No way… It couldn't be…

"This is your home now," Ms. Garthon stated matter-of-factly. "I'm sure that your situation has been explained to you already, but if I must I will tell you one more time. Your father was caught in an accident at the docks and has passed away. From now on you'll be living here at the orphanage since you have no other relatives to take care of you."

Miyu winced at the cold practicality in Ms. Garthon's voice as she proceeded to inform the boy about the rules at the orphanage and the chores he would be responsible for as she hauled him further into the building. She remembered when she had arrived a little over a week ago Ms. Garthon had given her the exact same treatment. At the time she hadn't thought much of it since she had just written her off as an old grouch and started planning how she was going to get out of here. But for someone who had actually loved the parent that they had lost, like that small boy so obviously did, this entire ordeal must have been very upsetting.

Obviously a trip to the kitchen was too risky to try right now. She'd just have to make due and hope that she was able to get back to her bed without being caught. As she slunk down the cold hallway she absently noticed that the tears had stopped and she no longer felt the urge to cry, but she ignored this in favor of avoiding the squeaky floorboards as she made her way back to the dorm door.

She was doing well until a loud clanging sound echoed down the hallway. Miyu was taken so off guard that she jumped sideways into the window seat and reflexively hid herself behind the curtains.

 _Dammit,_ she thought anxiously. _It's later than I thought!_

And sure enough the halls began to fill with noise as the children of the orphanage stumbled out of their beds. Already she could hear the shrill tones of the obnoxious little girl who slept two beds down from her, insisting that she be first in the bathroom. Farther down the hall she could hear the boys pouring out from their dormitory, jostling loudly as they made their way down the stairs towards the dining hall. The orphanage was filled to capacity and it was evident in the way that the floorboards shook as the boys trampled downstairs and the hallways echoed with the noises of too many girls trying to share the same bathroom. Usually Miyu hightailed it downstairs to avoid the crush, having already discovered that she had little patience for the posturing of young girls so early in the morning.

Instead Miyu found herself frozen in place in her hiding spot behind the curtain. Because not only had she been bombarded by the unholy racket that preceded the children getting out of bed, she also found herself overcome by unstoppable waves of emotion. And she knew for certain this time that these emotions were not her own. She was being overwhelmed by what she now knew were the emotions of over fifty children and the sensory overload made her tremble.

 _I don't, I can't!_ Miyu let out a whimper as she attempted to process the emotions clouding her mind.

Someone had had a nightmare and the residue tendrils of fear were still clinging to them like a fine spider's web. Their anxiety was rising higher and higher the louder the racket became.

Someone else was in a fine snit, radiating a sense of self-importance and superiority that was sickening when she could feel the corresponding insecurity and shame that it was inspiring in others.

There was an overarching feeling of impatience that gave the entire amalgam a tint of urgency that she could actually feel increasing her heart rate the longer she sat there. And yet she couldn't move. It wasn't like anything she had ever felt before. The emotions were so present, so _real._ It was like she was feeling every single emotion herself, and all the conflicting and converging feelings were swirling together in a way that was making her stomach churn.

She stayed frozen like that for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually, as the battle for the bathroom died down and more and more girls began to go downstairs to the dining hall, the potency of some of the emotions faded. And yet she found that she couldn't move.

She stayed like that, frozen behind the curtain, until one of the caretakers came striding down the hall in search of stragglers. With a whoosh her hiding place was exposed and she found herself face to face with none other than Ms. Garthon herself.

"I thought I heard someone hiding out here," Ms. Garthon said. She reached out and snagged Miyu by the wrist when she made no indication of moving from the window seat. "Come you miscreant, you're already in trouble for sneaking out yesterday and missing dinner. I expect you to hurry and finish your breakfast and then report to the kitchen. As punishment you will be expected to scrub all the pots and pans from last night and this morning. We have rules in this establishment, Miss Miyu, rules that I expect to be followed to the letter."

Ms. Garthon's heels clacked as she stalked down the hall, dragging an unresisting Miyu behind her. On any other day Miyu would have put up a fuss until her wrist was released. But the minute Ms. Garthon's bare hand had touched the skin on her wrist she had been overcome by the queerest sensation. Sure, she had sensed that Ms. Garthon was irritated earlier when she was speaking with the young boy in the entrance hall (for that is what that earlier feeling of impatience must have been, she couldn't help but conclude), and again she had gotten that feeling when the curtain had been pulled back. But as soon as Ms. Garthon had reached out and grabbed her everything had become… clearer. Deeper.

Miyu glanced up at Ms. Garthon's sharp-lined face and tightly pulled back hair. _Why is she… so sad?_ Miyu wondered.

Because it was there, hiding underneath all the irritation and impatience that were so evident she'd be able to sense them even without her newfound ability. Miyu could feel it now that she was touching her. It wasn't an immediate sadness, like the little boy's had been earlier. That had been raw and volatile like a raging summer storm. It was an aching sadness that underlined every movement that Ms. Garthon made, like it was so imbedded in the fiber of her being that it was nigh inescapable. And now that Miyu had felt it, she didn't realize how she hadn't seen it before. Something had happened to Ms. Garthon that had sucked every ounce of joy out of her, leaving nothing but bitterness, anger, and loneliness that all strived to cover up that aching sadness.

It unnerved Miyu, being able to so clearly understand something that Ms. Garthon had obviously tried to keep hidden. Like she had peered into her diary and read her every last secret without permission. It felt intimate. It felt invasive. And it also felt vaguely frustrating. Because now she was having a difficult time mustering up the previous animosity she had felt towards Ms. Garthon.

And it was also frustrating because she couldn't figure out _why._ Why was Ms. Garthon so unhappy? She knew with a certainty that seemed almost inhuman _exactly_ what Ms. Garthon was feeling, but that's all it was. A feeling. No matter how she strained she couldn't get any hint as to what Ms. Garthon was thinking.

 _Although, maybe I had better stop trying to read Ms. Garthon's mind,_ Miyu thought. She could feel her face beginning to scrunch up in concentration the longer she was at it, and from the expression on Ms. Garthon's face that was not an appropriate reaction to the scolding she was receiving.

"Don't think throwing a fit will help you weasel out of this, young lady," Ms. Garthon proclaimed in strident tones. She halted in from of the dining hall doors and turned back to pin Miyu with a glare. "I expect you to arrive in the kitchen at eight thirty sharp."

Miyu tugged her wrist out of Ms. Garthon's grasp and took a step back. "Yes, ma'am," she mumbled, absorbed in rubbing the skin on her wrist and staring at Ms. Garthon's bare hand.

"Good," Ms. Garthon stated. "Get on with you then." And with a push between her shoulder blades she sent Miyu stumbling through the dining hall doors.

* * *

Hours later Miyu snuck out of the orphanage again and darted through the streets towards the edges of Linedown. By the time she reached the forest edge her hair was falling out of the braid she had put it in early that day to scrub the dishes and her hands and knees were covered in mud from continually tripping and stumbling as she ran through the streets. By the time she reached the tree line she was completely exhausted. She found one of her favorite trees and climbed up into the branches until she reached a smooth, hollowed out niche. She settled herself down behind the branches where she couldn't be seen and finally let herself really think about everything that had happened today.

It had been hell to sit in the dining hall during breakfast. There were well over sixty children eating in there, along with the staff that was serving the food and eating at their own table off to the side. And their emotions were so _loud._ She had hardly been able to keep any food down simply because of the cacophony all the different emotions were creating in her head. Finally she had just given up on breakfast and secluded herself in the back of the kitchen scrubbing pots, desperately trying to ignore the amorous feelings that the assistant cook was broadcasting as she flirted with the delivery boy. She knew that she had felt things like that before in her previous life, but feeling them now as a six year old? It just felt wrong.

And when she had finished with the dishes and snuck out the back of the kitchen it hadn't gotten any better. She had never had a sense of just how many people lived in Linedown before. Walking down the street she realized that she was now able to pick up on the emotional states of everyone within a radius of thirty or forty feet. And the longer she was out the farther the radius reached. By the time she was halfway through the market district the radius had increased to the size of one city block.

Some of them had been innocuous feelings, like the focused energy of early morning housewives doing their shopping or the young children following after them continually getting into trouble trying to alleviate their boredom. Those kinds of emotions, while intrusive, were fairly harmless. But when she had gotten past the market district and into the more residential part of town, the emotions had grown more varied and, in many cases, significantly uglier. She now had a very personal and very unwanted understanding of the states of several marriages on Fleet Street that made her mouth twist into a grimace just thinking about it. Each new emotion had made her more and more frantic to get away, and by the time she had reached the city limits she had tripped and fell multiple times while trying to run and being distracted by those invasive emotions at the same time.

Now that she had holed herself up in her tree, out of range from any people, Miyu could finally feel herself beginning to relax. There was still a muted sense that was tickling the back of her mind, which she could only guess was the emotions of the animals in the forest, but it was nowhere near as overwhelming as trying to deal with human emotions had been.

"I guess," Miyu whispered, "I really did eat a Devil Fruit after all." She blinked a couple of times; almost as if she couldn't believe those words actually came out of her mouth. "I ate a Devil Fruit." She shook her head back and forth and said it again, as if to make sure it was real. "I was reborn into the world of One Piece. And I ate a Devil Fruit." She began to chuckle a bit hysterically and she could hear the nearby birds flying off in response.

"I ate a Devil Fruit!" She shouted to the treetops, sending another wave of birds scattering. "I ate the Jōkan Jōkan no Mi!" She exclaimed. And then clapped her hands over her mouth in surprise.

 _How did I know that?_ She thought. But she tested it out in her mind and found that she was just as certain as to what her Devil Fruit was called as she had been when Ms. Garthon had clasped her wrist and she had felt that aching sadness.

"I ate the Jōkan Jōkan no Mi," she whispered in wonderment. She reached out tentatively with her newborn sense, searching for all of the little blips in her mind that indicated a different creature. She could feel the focus of the lizard she could see on an adjacent tree as it sat in wait for an unsuspecting moth, the irritation of the squirrel as it chattered at the bird building its nest in its tree, the lazy contentment of the deer as it lay sunbathing in a clearing not far from her. On the edges of her mind she could sense hints of the people who lived at the outer edges of Linedown, just the barest indication that not far from where she sat resided a giant mess of roiling emotions that made her want to go near catatonic from sensory overload. She sat there taking in this entirely new way of interacting with her world and leaned back in her tree hollow with a sigh.

"Well, what am I going to do now?"

 **Quick Author's note! Thank you so much to everyone who has already favorited, followed, and reviewed this piece. I'm so glad that you guys seem to be enjoying it. Just a quick couple of things.**

 **-The name of Miyu's Devil Fruit, as you found out, is the Jōkan Jōkan no Mi. In English this would roughly translate to the Feel Feel Fruit. However, that is a very rough translation that doesn't really encompass everything I had in mind the way that Jōkan does. Jōkan, according to the Word Hippo online translator, has these English synonyms: affection, affectivity, emotion, empathy, feeling, impression, passion, pathos, and sensitivity. So, because I have decided to use a Japanese word to name Miyu's Devil Fruit, for consistency's sake I will be using the original Japanese names for every other Devil Fruit named in this fic. And don't worry, there is going to be a lot more to Miyu's Devil Fruit than just sensing other people's emotions. I've got some pretty cool ideas in mind. Naturally though, like any other Devil Fruit, it will take Miyu some time to fully develop them. So don't count her out yet! Oh, and get ready for the jokes, because it suddenly occurred to me when I was planning out this chapter that now Miyu could technically be considered an "emotion human." Cue touchy-feely girl jokes that make her want to plant everyone a facer.** **J**

 **-BonJoviGuest- I hadn't even realized that I had done that with her parents' occupations! Of course now every time I think of them I mentally refer to them as Tommy and Gina.** **J** **And I'm glad that you picked up on the hollowness of Miyu's character at the moment! I kind of did that on purpose. Being reborn really took a lot out of her, and in this second life she's just kind of floated along until now. She hasn't really had to be present or found much to live for. Of course, that's all going to change pretty soon if I have anything to say about it. Which I do. Because she's my character.**


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

"This is going to be your room," Mrs. Mornsythe said as she swung open the door to a drafty bedroom whose walls were lined with rickety beds. "You'll be sharing it with the other girls in the house, and I expect you to keep it quiet up here, you understand?"

Miyu peered into the cramped space and noted the austere atmosphere, from the perfectly folded covers to the perfectly bare white walls. If she hadn't seen the quaint townhouse façade as she walked up the front steps she would have assumed this room belonged in a hospital ward. Beside her she could sense the cold indifference radiating from her new "mother," and found herself wondering not for the first time since entering this house if she might have been better off staying at the Linedown City Orphanage for Unfortunates. Ms. Garthon may be exacting and the dormitories might be cold and impersonal, but at least the orphanage didn't pretend to be anything other than what it was: an institution.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Mornsythe's house did a fairly convincing job on the first floor of trying to persuade guests that it was a happy, loving home. The parlor furniture was covered in warm, hand knitted afghans and the mantle was populated by pictures of smiling children in a variety of poses; all being overseen by Mr. and Mrs. Mornsythe, of course.

When Miyu and her social worker, Ms. Harrway, had shown up on the front step precisely at nine o'clock, Mrs. Mornsythe had ushered them through the front door, fawning over the ill-fitting, starchy dress that Ms. Harrway had insisted she wear in order to make a good impression. She had directed them into the aforementioned parlor, chattering all the while about making tea and how excited all the children would be to have a new sibling to play with.

"They'll all just be so delighted to have a new sister," she had said brightly as she brought in the tea service to where Miyu and Ms. Harrway were seated on the afghan-covered sofa, Ms. Harrway in triumphant expectation, Miyu in discomfort. "The boys have outnumbered us girls for a good while now," she had continued as she set the tea service down on the heavy wood coffee table. "It will be quiet the relief to have another girl to balance us all out." Mrs. Mornsythe had settled herself on the opposite chair, smiling genially at Miyu and Ms. Harrway. Ms. Harrway had smiled back and leaned forward to help herself to a cup of tea and a small biscuit. Miyu had remained exactly where she was, hands tucked into her lap and eyes trained on the floor.

Because while Mrs. Mornsythe was in the parlor chattering away about her house and her husband and how delighted the children would be, the rest of the house was entirely silent. Another person might have assumed that the as-yet-unseen Mr. Mornsythe had taken the children out of the house in order for Mrs. Mornsythe to meet with them in the parlor. And another person would be quite wrong. Miyu could feel the presences of the other children in the house like a thick miasma, heavy with fear and anxiety that made her muscles rigid and her jaw tense. With every smile and laugh that Mrs. Mornsythe gave as she conversed with the oblivious Ms. Harrway, Miyu had felt her muscles tensing tighter and tighter.

She had first thought that being placed in the foster home would be preferable to living out the rest of her childhood at the orphanage. Ever since she had returned from the forest when she had had her startling revelation she had found herself bombarded with the unwanted knowledge of the emotions of every person, or even animal, around her. She had learned very quickly to avoid the kitchen when the cooks were catching the chickens from the backyard and preparing lunch. The daily influx of feelings during meals in the dining hall had made her head ache to such a degree that every meal nearly caused her to pass out. Not only had she had to contend with the clamor of sixty children trying to conduct a meal, but she had also had to deal with the conflicting emotions that each of them practically shouted at her as well. She had felt as if she was being engulfed in a ginormous tidal wave that would drag her under and suffocate her beneath tons of pressure while the life had been slowly crushed out of her.

And so when Ms. Harrway had shown up the previous afternoon with the news that she had found a family that was willing to take her out of the orphanage, she had breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe she would still have to deal with the emotions broadcasted by her housemates, but at least the number would be significantly reduced. Perhaps sometime during her stay she might even learn how to mute or control this newfound ability that now plagued her every moment. It wasn't the most ideal situation, but she had thought it her best option at the time.

She now thought very, very differently.

It had all been wrapped up in what seemed like no time at all. Miyu hadn't even been required to utter a single word. Ms. Harrway and Mrs. Mornsythe had gaily discussed her situation over their tea, agreed that "Of course Miyu would be a lovely fit here!" and "This will be a much better place for her to grow up than that drafty orphanage!" and in the space of a moment Ms. Harrway had been waving her way out the door and Miyu had found herself being escorted upstairs by a significantly less genial Mrs. Mornsythe.

In the back of her mind, the ever-present terror of the unseen children hovered like a black cloud of impending doom. Something was not right in this house. This went beyond the simple strictness of the orphanage or the neglectfulness of her parents. It even went beyond the unyielding, seemingly irritated behavior of Ms. Garthon that caused every child to snap to attention like a soldier on parade. These children were terrified, and as much as it made her conscience writhe with guilt Miyu had no intention of staying around to find out why. Before eating her Devil Fruit, Miyu might have brushed off her uneasiness as the discomfort of moving into a new place or just her resentment of having to be taken care of in general; but her newly-developed sense was screaming at her that here there be metaphorical dragons that wouldn't hesitate to roast her on a spit and eat her up for dinner.

She was jolted from her thoughts by a harsh slap to her ear that made her involuntarily flinch away from Mrs. Mornsythe and into the doorframe.

"When I ask a question I expect an answer," Mrs. Mornsythe said. "Now, do you understand what I have just told you?"

"Yes," Miyu mumbled. Another slap.

"Yes, ma'am," Mrs. Mornsythe said emotionlessly.

"Yes, ma'am," Miyu parroted dutifully, watchful eyes trained on Mrs. Mornsythe's beringed hand while her own rubbed her smarting ear.

"Very good then," Mrs. Mornsythe said. "I'll escort you to the attic where the other children are. Lunch is at noon. You are expected to show up downstairs on time, hands washed, face clean, and with minimal squabbling. Failure to follow these expectations," Mrs. Mornsythe paused and looked back over her shoulder at Miyu where she still stood in the doorway, "will be rather unpleasant for all involved."

Miyu felt her knees involuntarily begin to tremble and Mrs. Mornsythe gave a small smirk. "Very good," she repeated with satisfaction. Thinking Miyu properly cowed, she turned on her heel and began leading the way to the second stairway that went to the attic. Miyu followed at a close but cautious distance. Whatever Mrs. Mornsythe might like to believe, it wasn't her vaguely threatening lecture that had incited such a reaction from Miyu. Rather, it was the fleeting, but very definite, glimpse of pure malice that had shown through Mrs. Mornsythe's cold indifference. Malice tinged with an unmistakable hint of pleasure. Miyu's knees were knocking together because she had now glimpsed into the heart of someone who inflicted pain upon others regularly, and liked it. And she found that she rather wished she hadn't.

She had to get out of here. In fact, she was slowly starting to realize that she needed to get out of this city altogether. Because as of now she was in the legal custody of the wolf in sheep's clothing that was walking in front of her, and she knew that nothing she said as her six year old self was going to convince anyone to make it otherwise. If she ran back to the orphanage or even back to the ramshackle shack that constituted her parents' old home, she would just be dragged back to the punishing arms of Mrs. Mornsythe, and no amount of kicking and screaming would stop it. She needed to get away, out of this city, where everyone would eventually forget about her and she would then have control over her own life. Living in squalor was preferable to living with what she had just seen of Mrs. Mornsythe. And she had no guarantees that anyone that would marry someone like Mrs. Mornsythe was going to be any better. No, she needed to go far and go fast. And she needed to do it in one go, before her new "parents" figured out that she was a flight risk and took measures to keep her here.

Mrs. Mornsythe swung open the door to the attic and practically pushed Miyu inside. As she stumbled over the doorway and scrambled to keep from falling flat on her face, Miyu thought she could hear the sound of the lock clicking shut behind her. She caught her feet and straightened up to see nine children standing around the room watching her with carefully blank faces.

The light from the windows struck falling dust particles as they drifted down from the ceiling rafters. The room was in obvious disrepair, with gaps in the floorboards and insulation peeking out from holes in the walls. Around the room she could see evidence of some children's playthings but they were all in poor condition, some to the point that it was almost impossible to tell what their original shape had been. Miyu decided that with her intentions to leave as soon as humanly possible it was probably best not to socialize, so she inched her way towards an unobtrusive corner.

"So you're the new girl?" An obtrusively nasal voice said as she made her way across the room. She turned and saw a skinny boy, probably no more than ten, standing at the front of the group of children. He had small eyes and a pinched mouth that looked as if it was set in a perpetual sneer. She narrowed her eyes as she felt the sharp edge of his emotions. While the other children were subdued and cautious, she could practically taste the excitement wafting off of him. She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. She'd seen enough in both of her lives to recognize a bully when she saw one.

"Obviously," she retorted. In the back of the group, she saw a smaller girl wince in reaction. Ah, so the bully didn't take well to challenges, did he?

He took a step forward in a blatant attempt to intimidate her. "Think you're so brave, huh new girl?" He snarled. Or attempted to snarl. It came out as more of a squawk, really, like a duck that had caught pneumonia, which made it rather hard to be intimidated by him.

She gave a snort of muffled laughter that sent his face purple with rage. She could feel, distantly, the trepidation from the other children and the ire emanating from the spluttering boy in front of her, but it all seemed far away in comparison to the confidence coursing through her. While she may be currently unable to deal with the adults of this world, no matter the maturity of her mind, children were still safely within her capabilities. Even nasty bullying ones.

Still, she decided to treat the situation with caution. She didn't want to cause any scenes that would make it more difficult for her to sneak away at first opportunity. And while she had confidence in her ability to handle one snotty ten year old, there must be something about him that caused all the other children to look at him with alarm.

"Who would be afraid of a scrawny runt like you?" She said. Oops, there went caution out the window.

"What'd you call me, new girl?" He snarled, or rather squawked, again. He stomped over to where she stood against the wall, puffing out his chest as he leaned into her face. "You don't wanna mess with me, new girl. I can make things rather… unpleasant for you," he threatened with a manic gleam in his eye.

Her mind flashed back to Mrs. Mornsythe, the sickening dread she had felt as she had gotten a glimpse into the blackness of her soul, the paralyzing helplessness she had experienced when she realized that she was under that woman's power. And here was this little snot, threatening her using the exact same words, pushing himself into her personal space when all she wanted, all she had ever wanted, was to just be _left alone…_

Suddenly the boy was reeling back, screeching in pain and clutching his nose as Miyu dimly registered the stinging pain in her still-clenched knuckles. She looked down at her fist and studied it curiously. Miyu looked up just as the boy was scrambling to his feet with the other children giving him a wide berth.

"You are going to be in so much trouble for this," he panted heavily as he wiped his hand across his face. A streak of blood reached all the way from his nose to his ear, like a macabre facsimile of native war paint. "Wait until Mrs. Mornsythe hears about this, new girl. Oh, you are going to be in so much trouble." His mouth stretched into a wild grin that pulled grotesquely at the blood smeared across his face and still dripping from his nose. "And that's not even counting what _I'm_ going to do to you, new girl."

She felt a thrill of fear go through her at the idea of having to face the wrath of Mrs. Mornsythe so soon, but she kept her features even and her fist clenched. "What can't even handle me by yourself?"

His narrow eyes flashed dangerously and he began to step forward when the entire scene was interrupted by the clanging of a bell. He turned towards the door and then glanced back at Miyu, the rest of the children watching in tense silence. "Maybe it will be better that way, new girl." He smirked, and with one last glance at the rest of the children went over to the door where the kitchen maid had been sent up to let them all out for lunch.

Slowly, the rest of the children began to shuffle out of the room, sending Miyu pitying glances that made her hackles rise. If she stayed here, she'd end up just the same, or possibly even worse. It seemed with her defiant attitude she had managed to attract the special attention of the resident bully boy, which was exactly what she hadn't wanted to do. She stood there, fuming at the ground as she tried to understand why she had just spectacularly lost her temper until she was broken out of her thoughts by the sound of a soft voice.

"You shouldn't have done that, you know," said the voice in a quiet murmur. Miyu looked up in surprise to see the small, timid girl from earlier standing in front of her twisting her hands together nervously.

"I know," Miyu grimaced. "What's his deal anyways?"

The girl shuffled her feet and glanced at the stairway anxiously, as if to reassure herself that all of the children had gone downstairs and weren't lurking about in the doorway listening in on the conversation.

"I mean, it doesn't seem as if any of you particularly like him," Miyu continued, "so why do I get the impression that he's able to push you all around?"

"Quiet!" The girl shushed frantically, fluttering her hands in front of herself. "You never know when he's listening."

"I just don't get what the big deal with him is," Miyu said a bit more quietly. "It's not like he's particularly big or strong. Why doesn't one of the other boys just put him in his place?" Miyu had certainly seen enough of that in the orphanage. She may not understand most things that young boys did, being female in both of her lives, but she knew that boys like that little brat usually were not at the top of the pecking order.

"Hannick doesn't have to be the strongest," the girl whispered. "He just has to be the meanest. And it doesn't hurt that he's Mrs. Mornsythe's nephew."

Miyu's eyes widened. That would explain it.

"So you realize, you gotta stop fighting with him, or we'll all be in trouble," the girl continued frantically. "Because if you really make him mad…"

"I know, I know," Miyu tried to reassure the hyperventilating girl. "I promise I have no plans on starting a fight with, what, Hannick, was it?" The girl nodded. "Right, well I have no intentions of fighting with Hannick and making everything worse for you all here. That before was just an accident, okay?"

The girl gave her a look that conveyed her skepticism so clearly that Miyu wouldn't have even needed her Devil Fruit ability to feel it.

 _Right, I just 'accidentally' popped the brat in the nose with my fist, that's real convincing there Miyu,_ she thought to herself. But the thing was it _was_ an accident. Miyu, in both of her lives, had never lost her temper like that before. _It must be the Jōkan Jōkan no Mi,_ she thought to herself. _What else am I not going to be able to control?_

"Hurry, we better get to lunch before Mrs. Mornsythe notices we're missing," the girl said. And she hurried out the door and down the stairs before Miyu was even able to ask her for her name.

* * *

The rain was falling softly that night as Miyu snuck her way out of the Mornsythe's house. She cursed under her breath when she felt her hands slip on the slick surface of the windowsill as she tried to lower herself out the bedroom window. In the orphanage, she had taken the much safer route down the back stairs and through the kitchen when she went to sneak out, but that became impossible when Mrs. Mornsythe had made the rounds at bedtime and locked the door.

 _Damn paranoid witch,_ Miyu thought with frustration as she struggled to lower herself in range of the sloping roof that covered the back porch. Over her shoulder she had tied a blanket holding her few changes of clothes. With any luck she'd be able to make it across town and gather some supplies from her parents' old house before she split out of this town for good. There was no way she was chancing stealing from here.

As it was she could feel her heart pounding in her ears as she dropped herself to the roof and then slid down the poles on the porch. She rubbed her smarting hands and began looking around the backyard. There! There was a gate in the back fence that led into the alley. She rushed across the immaculately kept lawn and reached up to tug on the latch.

 _It's locked!_ She began to tug frantically on the latch, as if her desperation would cause it to magically open. Giving up, she backed up and assessed the fence, thanking all the gods that may or may not exist that she had taught herself to climb all of those trees. She was just adjusting the knot that held the ends of the blanket together when she heard a noise from the back porch.

"Who's there?" A familiar nasally voice called out from the doorway.

Miyu desperately looked around for some cover, but the yard was tragically bare, nothing but perfectly cut grass to be seen in either direction. She froze when the back porch light flicked on and turned around cautiously. There was Hannick standing on the back porch with legs spread wide, hands on his hips and a nauseating grin on his face.

"Well, if it isn't the new girl?" He drawled, strutting off the back porch. "Going somewhere new girl?"

"I have a name," Miyu growled, backing up defensively against the fence. "Now leave me alone."

"I know you have a name, new girl. But I just like to call you that, because that's what you are." His grin widened. "You realize that all I have to do is call out, right?"

Miyu's face paled.

Hannick laughed in response. "That's right, new girl! All I have to do is call out, and everyone in the house will come running and you'll be in so much trouble!" His voice had taken on a sing-song quality, which coupled with the nasal tone sent shivers down her spine. He walked even closer, now less than a foot away from where she was backed against the fence.

"You'll get in trouble too," she whispered harshly, keeping an eye on the dark windows of the house behind him.

"Me, in trouble?" Hannick chuckled. "Surely you've heard by now, new girl." He leaned in close to whisper in her ear. " _I'm_ never the one who gets in trouble around here." He reached down and grabbed her wrist.

It was just like before, with Ms. Garthon, but _so much worse._ Touching Ms. Garthon had been like looking down into a well and seeing a long-dead animal. It was sad, so achingly sad, but it seemed distant and untouchable, like there was nothing you could have done either way to help the poor thing.

But touching Hannick…

Miyu had never felt so unclean. Her skin touched Hannick's and she swore she could feel her soul shudder. Such malice, such perversity. Her skin touched Hannick's and she saw the potential of the man he could grow to be, no, the monster he could grow to be. Here was a man who could kill without remorse, with pleasure even. The seeds of it were there to see in the anticipation, the downright glee she could feel him feeling at the moment. Inexplicably, she knew that that malevolent glee was derived from the idea of her being in pain, of hearing her cry out in agony as she was punished.

Bile began to reflexively gather in the back of her throat. Terror began to bubble up in her chest until she felt as if it would choke her. Entirely on instinct, she harnessed that raw terror and _pushed._

In front of her Hannick grew deathly still. With him standing face to face with her, Miyu was able to watch as his pupils blew wide and feel his respiration rapidly begin to increase as it puffed against her face. His limbs began to tremble and his nostrils flared as he let go of her wrist with such force that he threw it into the wooden fence behind her. Miyu gave a small yelp of pain and cradled her wrist to her chest as she watched Hannick scramble away from her.

"What did you do to me?" He yelled at her, voice frantic. Miyu watched with dread as behind him a light flickered on in the house.

"Answer me, you monster!" Hannick practically screamed as spit flew out of his mouth. His chest heaved up and down as he gulped in air like a dying man.

Miyu could only stare at him in shock as he made his way onto the porch and fumbled around behind himself for the door latch. _Is he… afraid of me?_ She wondered as she watched Hannick keep wide eyes on her hunched form as he backed through the doorway. When the door finally began to swing shut she saw him turn around and begin to bellow for his aunt and uncle.

Quickly she spun around and threw herself at the fence, hands and feet scrambling for purchase as she hauled herself on top. She looked back over her shoulder at the now-lit house.

"I'm not the monster here," she whispered to herself quietly before dropping down into the dark alley and running off into the night.

* * *

Miyu panted as she finally ran up the path that led to her parents' house. The windows were shuttered and the house was dark, which Miyu could only hope meant that they hadn't sold the place yet. With an ease born of practice she snuck in the back door and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the light coating of dust on everything.

 _So, they haven't sold the place yet,_ she thought.

Ideally, the house would be sold and the money held in trust for her until she was of age, with all the "family heirlooms" held in storage until she was old enough to claim them. In reality she knew that the city would sell the house and everything in it that they were able to pawn off, and then all the money would be put in the care of her legal guardians, which were Mr. and Mrs. Mornsythe now. She very much doubted she'd see a penny of the money if that were to happen.

She dashed into her old bedroom and pulled the pack she used to use for "adventuring" out from underneath the bed, tossing the blanket and clothes from her back in there first. She raced throughout the house as quickly as she was able, unsure of how long it would take for the Mornsythes to alert the police and then how long after that someone would think to check at the "poor orphan girl's" former home. She threw in the stash of beer money that her parents hadn't thought she had known they had, along with a couple containers for water and some of the best blankets she could find. From her room she took nothing but an extra pair of shoes, a notebook, a pencil, and an old pocketknife that she had found in the back of her parents' closet when she was five. She tossed in all the soap from the bathroom she could find, along with a towel, and then went to the kitchen to top the pack off with some of her father's tools from under the sink, some rope, and then all the non-perishable food from the pantry that she reasonably thought she'd be able to carry.

When she hefted the pack onto her back she staggered under the weight, but reassured herself with the thought that when she finally finished off all her food she'd be wishing that it was this heavy again. She made her way out through the backdoor, being careful to lock it again so that at first glance the house would look undisturbed.

She had just begun to steel herself to make her way to the edge of town as fast as possible, ignoring the less than pleasant emotions of those who walked the streets at night, when she heard a small crash nearby.

Startled, she jumped (or rather jolted, because she wasn't going to be doing much jumping wearing that pack), and whipped her head towards the trashcans where she thought the sound had originated. Narrowing her eyes, she consciously focused her sense towards the trashcans, hoping that if there was a mugger or wild dog behind there she would at least be able to sense their emotions before they charged her.

Instead, all she sensed was hunger and misery. She slowly inched forwards until she was able to see around the trashcans. There, huddled in the corner between the neighbor's fence and the trashcans, was a small black pup who turned wide brown eyes towards her that were just as scared as she imagined her own were.

Miyu scowled and squatted down so she was level with the pup. "What are you doing out here on a night like this?" Of course, she already knew the answer; she just didn't want to admit it to herself. It was there to see in the ratty fur and protruding ribs, in the scrapes on his muzzle and the way he held one of his paws close to his body protectively.

The pup's small, pointed ears perked up at her as she talked. His tail wagged cautiously, hopefully.

"No," Miyu said, even as she reached out slowly towards one black ear. "I know what you're thinking, and it's not going to happen. I'm not even sure I can take care of myself right now, pup." Her hand gently rubbed the pup's ear, and she found herself able to feel the pup's loneliness, and beneath that the bright hope that was beginning to shine in his eyes the longer she sat there rubbing his ear.

"I can't give you a home, you know," she said as the pup leaned its head into her hand. "I don't even have one myself. It'll be hard, out there in the forest. You'll have to be strong until we can find a new home."

The pup jumped up onto her lap and Miyu overbalanced and fell backwards onto her pack. The pup let its tongue loll out and gave her a lopsided grin. Miyu forced a frown even as she felt a grin tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"You'll have to be fierce, because I won't be able to watch out for you all the time," she warned even as she began to delicately run her fingers over the tangled mats in his long fur. "And I can't be calling you 'pup' all the time either. That won't scare anyone."

The pup gave a small yip and licked her cheek. Miyu finally gave in and smiled. A name floated up to the top of her mind, bringing with it vague recollection of a band of fierce warriors riding across the plains, fighting for their freedom.

"I'll call you Cochise," she said. The pup gave another yip, as if in approval.

Miyu pushed him off her lap and pulled herself to her feet, wiping some of the mud off her pants as she re-situated her pack. Cochise sat expectantly at her feet.

"Well," she said glancing down at him, "let's get out of here before someone catches us." She leaned down and scratched the top of his head, closing her eyes and concentrating as she tried to grasp her new-found happiness at having finally found a companion. She hadn't even realized how lonely she had been until she had looked down into those brown eyes and saw gazing back someone who was so profoundly happy that she was _there._ She gently pushed the feeling outward through her hand and opened her eyes to see Cochise's tail wagging furiously.

"Good then," she smiled. "I'm glad we understand each other."


End file.
